Former FBI Spokesman Faults Reno For Waco Silence
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Waco Investigation
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A former FBI spokesman was quoted Saturday as saying he had urged Attorney General Janet Reno to allow publication of more information about the standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, but she had rejected the idea.
The Daily Oklahoman newspaper quoted Bob Ricks, who now heads Oklahoma's highway patrol, as saying he told Reno during a conference in 1994 that Justice Department rules requiring FBI agents to remain silent about the standoff were causing credibility problems for the agency in the Midwest.
''I said, ''You probably don't realize it, but in the Midwest, Waco is still an extremely big deal out here, and it's the subject of much conversation,'' Ricks told the paper.
Ricks said he told Reno he didn't like rules preventing more open discussion of the ill-fated siege and that their silence ''could ultimately end up being a problem.''
Ricks told the paper that Reno had responded: ''I don't think the American people care about Waco anymore.'' The report added that a Justice Department spokesman denied Reno had made the comment.
''I think the government could have done a much better job in providing full disclosure,'' Ricks told the Oklahoman.
Ricks said his conversation with Reno took place about a year after the 51-day siege at Waco, in which cult leader David Koresh and more than 80 people died after a disastrous assault by agents on the group's compound.
Minutes after the raid was launched, the buildings erupted in flames and burned to the ground, killing most inside. Ricks was the primary spokesman for the FBI during the siege.
Investigation following the incident indicated the fires were set by cult members inside the compound, not by agents.
Later statements by the FBI and the Justice Department claimed no incendiary devices were used in the assault. The agency recently reversed this stance after recent revelations by former agents and taped evidence showed incendiary tear gas canisters were used by the FBI during the assault.
Ricks told the paper that Justice Department rules also prevented the FBI from conducting its own investigation following the siege, called an ''after-action critique,'' which would have examined the successes and failures of the action.
-- Reno is no scapegoat just because she looks like one. |
